White Supremacy Culture in ourselves and company life

We are taking time, every two weeks, to use a creative practice and dialogue for exploring each of the different characteristics of white supremacy culture identified in Dr. Tema Okun’s White Supremacy Culture.

1. Perfectionism
2. A sense of urgency
3. Defensiveness
4. Valuing QUANTITY over QUALITY
5. Worship of the written word
6. Belief in only one right way
7. Paternalism
8. EITHER/OR thinking
9. Power hoarding
10. Fear of open conflict
11. Individualism
12. Belief that I’m the only one (who can do this ‘right’)
13. Belief that progress is bigger and more
14. Belief in objectivity
15. Claiming a right to comfort

We understand the spirituality and vitality of being creative and playing, we want to make time for and intentionally tap into these modalities as part of learning to value things beyond typical ways of knowing. And so. . .

We set a timer and for 5 minutes, with any art supply of our choice, we draw. We draw the visual representation of that key word, how it occurs for us. Then we use a poetry prompt and a timer of 10 minutes for writing.

We will share these with you. As an invitation to explore, to expose our experience, to open up dialogue, to be vulnerable and human — as a way to disrupt the norms of polished communication, the written word and other aspects of white supremacy culture.

These creative prompts invite the two of us into a conversation of how we experience this in our work life and company. We hope to share with you snippets of this conversation and ways we have identified to create more space within, outside of, and beyond the bounds of white supremacy culture.

As leaders of our small company, we shape Picture Impact. We are aware that our own embodiment and mindsets infused with white supremacy culture are evident and influence how our company shows up in the world and ultimately the impact(s) it has. To that end, we seek to be intentional about our practices, our choices, and behavior and are seeking to learn to see white supremacy culture; to unlearn the ways of being, doing and thinking we have been brought up within; and to actively choose to live beyond the narrative it demands of us.

Let us begin. . . (April, 2021).

This article is written by:

Anna Martin, Evaluator, Social Worker, Facilitator, Complexity Coach, curious mischief maker and co-founder of Picture Impact.

Katrina Mitchell, Designer, Urban Planner, Strategist, Maker, relentless seeker of beauty and co-founder of Picture Impact.